This morning Michael stayed at the apartment to work so Roy, Diane and I walked down to the Capitoline Museum. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), we ended up at the Victor Emmanuel Monument which is a HUGE monument built to honor Italy’s first king. The views were engaging from the monument, but, other than that, there was not much to it.
We left the monument and found our way to the Capitoline Museum which is supposedly the oldest in the world. It is divided into two parts and connected with a passageway that gives great views over the Roman Forum…..
In the first courtyard there were wonderful parts of a massive structure of Constantine. I particularly loved the feet and hand…..
Diane got yelled at for touching the Big toe!!!!!
This one seems to have a corn on his little toe…..
Once inside the museum you couldn’t take photos, however many of the nicest pieces were in an open area where you could photograph. This statue of Marcus Aurelius was great…..
This statue is of Romulus and Remus who are considered to be the founders of Rome. Legend says that the were suckled by a “She-Wolf”…..
The last part of the museum provided information about the Knights of Columbus. I had not realized that the KoC is an organization of Catholic men and that they do a lot of philanthropic work. Apparently in World War II when the US was bombing Rome, the Pope wrote a letter to FDR requesting that he cease bombing ancient Rome and the KoC worked to get the letter to the US. The Knights worked to provide food to the thousands that were left homeless during the war, and in current times, have built playgrounds all over Rome and even gave financial aide after the September 11th bombing. There was one display showing some of the steel girders from the WTC….
In the afternoon, we did a few housekeeping chores like getting the Carroll’s train passes validated and their train reservations set up. Our final jaunt of the afternoon was to see the “Cappucin Crypt” again.
Diane cooked dinner for us and we dined on pork filets, pasta with Bolognese sauce, and a salad made from pickled vegetables and fresh tomatoes…..It was magnificent.
We made our usual evening trip to get Gelato and then Michael and I retired for the evening as Roy and Diane headed to the Trevi Fountain to check out the night life.
By the way, when Roy and Diane were visiting St. Peters, they met the same old gentleman that Lyn and I met. R&D said that they understood every 3 words which is WAY more than I did!!!! He does get around!!!